Differences between Google Shared Drives and Google Drive
Google Workspace users get higher storage quota and they can create Shared Drives inside Google Drive. Unlike files in My Drive, files in Shared Drives belong to the team instead of an individual.
This table outlines the differences between My Drive and Shared Drives in Google Drive. It is currently not possible to sync files stored in Shared Drives with your Mac or PC using the Google Drive client.
| Google Shared Drives | My Drive | |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns files and folders? | The team | The individual who created the file or folder |
| Can I restore files? | Yes, if you have edit access or full access. | Yes, if you created it. |
| Can I move files? | To move files between Team Drives or from My Drive into a Team Drive, drag the files into the destination Team Drive folder. When you move a folder from My Drive to Team Drive, the ID will change. To move files between Team Drives, you must have full access to the original Team Drive and at least edit access to the destination Team Drive. | Yes |
| Can I move folders? | Only the domain admin can move folders inside Team Drives. | Yes |
| Sharing | All team members see the same file set. | Different users might see different files in a folder, depending on their access to individual files. |
| How long do files I delete stay in Trash? | Each Team Drive has its own Trash. Only members with full access to the Team Drive can delete files. Files and folders in Trash are deleted permanently after 30 days or sooner if a full-access member deletes them first. Full access and edit access members can restore content from Trash. | If you own the file you delete, it’s automatically removed from Drive on all of your devices and on the web. Deleted files are moved to Trash. They still count toward your total storage until you permanently delete them from Trash. If you delete a file that you don’t own or that’s been shared with you, other people can still access it until the owner deletes it. |
Amit Agarwal
Google Developer Expert, Google Cloud Champion
Amit Agarwal is a Google Developer Expert in Google Workspace and Google Apps Script. He holds an engineering degree in Computer Science (I.I.T.) and is the first professional blogger in India.
Amit has developed several popular Google add-ons including Mail Merge for Gmail and Document Studio. Read more on Lifehacker and YourStory
